# Hallmarks of Cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/hallmarks-of-cancer/  
OnCo record `hallmarks-of-cancer` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The Hallmarks of Cancer is the most-cited framework in cancer biology: a short list of the capabilities every cancer must acquire, from unlimited growth to hiding from the immune system. The 2022 update lists eight hallmarks, two enabling characteristics, and four new dimensions.

## Summary

Hanahan and Weinberg (2000, 2011) and Hanahan (2022). Core hallmarks: sustaining proliferative signalling, evading growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing/accessing vasculature, activating invasion and metastasis, reprogramming cellular metabolism, avoiding immune destruction. Enabling characteristics: genome instability and mutation, tumour-promoting inflammation. 2022 additions: unlocking phenotypic plasticity, non-mutational epigenetic reprogramming, polymorphic microbiomes, senescent cells. Each hallmark maps to drug classes; OnCo links every hallmark term to the pathways and technologies that address it.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: hallmark

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hallmarks_of_Cancer
- Hanahan, Hallmarks of Cancer: New Dimensions (Cancer Discovery 2022): https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1059
- Hanahan & Weinberg, Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation (Cell 2011): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2011.02.013

## Connected records

- pathways: [Theories of cancer: how the ideas connect](https://onco.cc/pathways/theories-of-cancer/)
- terms: [Cell](https://onco.cc/terms/cell-term/), [Enabling characteristic: genome instability and mutation](https://onco.cc/terms/genome-instability-mutation/), [Enabling characteristic: tumour-promoting inflammation](https://onco.cc/terms/tumor-promoting-inflammation/), [Hallmark (2022): non-mutational epigenetic reprogramming](https://onco.cc/terms/nonmutational-epigenetic-reprogramming/), [Hallmark (2022): polymorphic microbiomes](https://onco.cc/terms/polymorphic-microbiomes/), [Hallmark (2022): senescent cells](https://onco.cc/terms/senescent-cells/), [Hallmark (2022): unlocking phenotypic plasticity](https://onco.cc/terms/unlocking-phenotypic-plasticity/), [Hallmark: activating invasion and metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/activating-invasion-metastasis/), [Hallmark: avoiding immune destruction](https://onco.cc/terms/avoiding-immune-destruction/), [Hallmark: enabling replicative immortality](https://onco.cc/terms/enabling-replicative-immortality/), [Hallmark: evading growth suppressors](https://onco.cc/terms/evading-growth-suppressors/), [Hallmark: inducing or accessing vasculature](https://onco.cc/terms/inducing-angiogenesis/), [Hallmark: reprogramming cellular metabolism](https://onco.cc/terms/deregulating-cellular-energetics/), [Hallmark: resisting cell death](https://onco.cc/terms/resisting-cell-death/), [Hallmark: sustaining proliferative signalling](https://onco.cc/terms/sustaining-proliferative-signaling/), [Hallmarks of cancer as a synthesis of the theories](https://onco.cc/terms/hallmarks-synthesis/)
- people: [Judah Folkman](https://onco.cc/people/judah-folkman/)
- key papers: [Hallmarks of Cancer 2022: adding phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic reprogramming, microbiomes and senescent cells](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hallmarks-new-dimensions-cancer-discov-2022/), [The Hallmarks of Cancer: six capabilities every tumour must acquire](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hallmarks-of-cancer-cell-2000/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hallmarks-of-cancer.json